Dilution of the Northern North Atlantic Ocean in Recent Decades

Declining salinities signify that large amounts of fresh water have been added to the northern North Atlantic Ocean since the mid-1960s. We estimate that the Nordic Seas and Subpolar Basins were diluted by an extra 19,000 ± 5000 cubic kilometers of freshwater input between 1965 and 1995. Fully half...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2005-06, Vol.308 (5729), p.1772-1774
Main Authors: Curry, Ruth, Mauritzen, Cecilie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Basins
Chemical properties
Climate change
Congenital Impairments
Density
Earth, ocean, space
Environmental aspects
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Fresh water
Glacial melting
Greenhouse effect
Marine
Measurement
Oceans
Physics of the oceans
Saline water
Salinity
Scientific Concepts
Seas
Soil infiltration
Storage
Surface water
Thermohaline structure and circulation. Turbulence and diffusion
Time series
Water
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Summary:Declining salinities signify that large amounts of fresh water have been added to the northern North Atlantic Ocean since the mid-1960s. We estimate that the Nordic Seas and Subpolar Basins were diluted by an extra 19,000 ± 5000 cubic kilometers of freshwater input between 1965 and 1995. Fully half of that additional fresh water--about 10,000 cubic kilometers--infiltrated the system in the late 1960s at an approximate rate of 2000 cubic kilometers per year. Patterns of freshwater accumulation observed in the Nordic Seas suggest a century time scale to reach freshening thresholds critical to that portion of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1109477